


Gravity

by Spikedluv



Category: 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003), Fast and the Furious (2001), Fast and the Furious Series
Genre: Community: smallfandomfest, M/M, Post-Movie(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-12
Updated: 2012-06-12
Packaged: 2017-11-07 14:25:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/432141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spikedluv/pseuds/Spikedluv
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Brian made his choice and now he’s living with the consequences.  But sometime there are consequences that you never anticipated.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gravity

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Round 11 of Small Fandoms Fest using the prompt: TFATF, Brian/Dom, You make your choice and you live with the consequences.
> 
> Written: June 10, 2012

“I wouldn’t do anything differently,” Brian said.

“Nothing?” Rome said. Not skeptical, exactly, but there was a slight disbelieving tone to his voice. “I mean, not one single, solitary thing?”

Well, maybe he wouldn’t have slept with Mia when all he could think about was Dom, but other than that he wouldn’t change anything. Rome didn’t need to know about the mistakes Brian had made with Mia, so he just said, “No, nothing.”

Brian had blown his cover to save Vince. He’d gone after Tran for shooting Jesse. He’d given up his job, much less any chance for advancement, when he’d handed Dom the keys to the Supra after Dom had wrecked the Charger and just let him go. In Dom’s eyes, though, none of that made up for the fact that Brian had lied to him.

Sometimes Brian missed Dom – missed the family he’d found with him – so much that it hurt. He rubbed his chest now, as if he could massage the ache away. Brian hadn’t known how much he was missing until he’d found it with Dom. Gravity.

“What?” Rome said.

Brian shook his head. He hadn’t meant to say it out loud. He tried not to think about Dom, much less talk about him, but sometimes when he’d had too much to drink his thoughts turned maudlin and he allowed Rome to drag some truths out of him. One of those truths was that the one thing he would change was something that wasn’t in his power to change. He’d have left LA with Dom, but Dom hadn’t asked him to.

After the thing with Verone Brian had put half of his share of the money Rome had liberated into an offshore account. He’d sent the account number and password to Mia with a note telling her that he wanted to help, since Dom was on the run. She’d returned the note and the envelope he’d sent it in, her reply scrawled across the envelope: _We don’t need your charity._ Brian had stuffed the envelope into the bottom of his sock drawer and left the money in the account in case either she or Dom ever needed it, hoping that Mia may have kept the account information, even though she’d returned the note.

“He hates me,” Brian said.

“Who?” Rome said.

Brian just shook his head again – he was talking too much tonight, saying things he didn’t mean to voice out loud.

“Toretto?” Rome said. “You gave up your career and went on the lam for him. Asshole needs to get over it.”

Brian snorted. “Like you did?”

Rome shrugged. “Eventually.”

Brian huffed a humorless laugh. “Yeah.” He stared at the table and rubbed the side of his thumb over a slice in the wood.

“One good thing came out of it,” Rome said.

Brian raised his eyebrows in question.

“Got us back together.”

There was more humor in Brian’s laugh this time. It was cut off, though, when Rome’s gaze moved over Brian’s shoulder and his eyes narrowed. Before Brian could turn to see what had caught Rome’s attention, a voice spoke behind him.

“My ears are ringing.”

It was a voice Brian still heard some nights in his dreams. He slowly turned in his chair until he could see the person that came with the voice. “Dom?”

“Brian.”

Even after Dom pulled out a chair and sat at their table, not waiting for an invitation, and ordered a Corona, Brian wasn’t one hundred percent certain he wasn’t hallucinating. How much had he had to drink?

“What are you doing here?” Brian asked.

“Yeah,” Rome said.

Dom ignored Rome and didn’t answer Brian’s question until he’d taken a sip of his beer.

“Looking for you,” Dom said, as if it should have been obvious.

It wasn’t. “Why?” Brian said.

“Thought it was time we talked,” Dom said in that slow drawl that slid down Brian’s spine.

Brian didn’t want to think about what Dom had to say to him. So he thought about something else. “How’d you find me?”

“You’re not exactly hiding,” Dom said, referring, Brian thought, to the races he’d been winning. Word got around in the underground racing scene, but Brian had never expected that word of what he was doing in Miami would reach Dom wherever he’d been hiding out south of the border.

“Plus, you contacted Mia. She can read a postmark.”

Brian nodded. He hadn’t bothered trying to hide where he was staying when he’d sent the information about the money to Mia, and he’d refused to think about why that was. Brian waited for Dom to say something else, but he seemed content to sip at his Corona and study Brian from under his lashes. Brian, on the other hand, was not at all content to sit there with Dom’s gaze heavy on him.

“What did you want to talk about?” Brian said, hoping to hurry things along. (And maybe also hoping that having this conversation in a public place would preclude him getting his face beat in.)

“Why,” Dom said.

“Why what?” Rome asked, but Brian was thinking it himself.

Dom ignored the question and went on as if Rome hadn’t spoken. “It’s been bugging me for a while now. Wondering why you did it,” he mused.

“Did what?” Brian said, not sure he wanted to hear the answer, even if he had been the one to instigate the conversation. Why did you screw my sister? Why did you lie to me?

“Saved Vince,” Dom said. “I just can’t figure it out.”

Brian tried not to sigh with relief. This one he could answer.

“I mean, he hated your guts.” Dom shrugged almost apologetically. “Still does, actually, if I’m being completely honest.”

It was Brian’s turn to shrug. “I’m not in the habit of letting anyone, even someone that hates my guts, get shot and killed when I can help it.” Plus, Vince was Dom’s friend, and when he’d gone chasing after them with Mia in tow Brian hadn’t known if it might be Dom climbing onto that damned rig and getting himself shot. “He deserved to go to jail,” Brian said, “but he didn’t deserve to die.”

Dom nodded, though he didn’t take his eyes off Brian. “Yeah, I thought it might be something like that.”

“Looks like you came all this way for nothing, then, since you’d already figured it all out.”

Dom gave no indication that he’d even heard Rome. It was as if he and Brian were the only ones in the bar.

“Tran?” Dom said.

“I’m a . . . was a cop,” Brian said. “It was my job.” The silence that fell seemed a heavy weight. “And Jesse was my friend,” he added.

Brian still remembered the shock he’d felt when Johnny Tran and his cousin Lance had rolled by Dom’s house, spewing automatic fire that had taken Jesse’s life. Some nights he still woke in a cold sweat with the sound of gunfire ringing in his ears. The sound of Dom calling Jesse’s name.

“The Brian that Jesse knew was a lie,” Dom said, but it didn’t carry the accusation Brain remembered from the last time he’d seen Dom.

“It wasn’t all a lie,” Brian said softly.

“You lied to me,” Dom said.

He still didn’t sound as angry as Brian expected, which made Brian angry for some reason. “Yes, Dom, I lied to you, because that’s what undercover cops do! But I wasn’t looking at you. It was supposed to be Hector, or Tran, or anybody but you! You son of a bitch,” he finished sadly. He threw some bills on the table and left his unfinished beer behind.

“Where the fuck do you think you’re going?” Rome said behind him, but Brian knew the words weren’t meant for him.

“If you know what’s good for you, Pierce, you’ll mind your own damned business.”

It didn’t surprise Brian that Dom knew who Rome was – Dom wasn’t one to go into any situation without doing his homework. Brian was too far away now to hear Rome’s response, but he figured it would be something like, “I’ve never been one to do what’s good for me,” or some other shit. Under other circumstances, Brian might have enjoyed watching Dom and Rome circle around each other. But not tonight.

Brian took a deep breath of the fresh (relatively speaking) air as soon as he stepped outside the bar. Just a few minutes in Dom’s company and Brian remembered vividly how overpowering his personality was. How easily he could draw you in until you orbited around him like he was your sun.

Brian had very nearly reached his car when he heard Dom’s voice again.

“I had one more question,” Dom said.

Brian froze like a deer in the headlights. He didn’t answer, but he couldn’t make his feet keep moving, either.

“Why’d you let me go?” Dom said. “I mean, you being a cop, and all.”

The touch of sarcasm in that last bit freed Brian’s feet, and his tongue. “Does it matter?” he said tiredly as he continued on to his car.

“No,” Dom said, and even though he’d expected it, that single word spoken so matter-of-factly squeezed Brian’s heart like a vise.

Brian’s legs carried him to the car on automatic and he thumbed the fob to unlock the doors. Before he could reach for the handle, though, Dom’s large hands were on him. Brian was turned, his back pressed against the car. Dom curled his fingers around Brian’s throat and just held on to him. Brian’s heart beat double time in his chest, but it wasn’t from fear.

“It doesn’t matter,” Dom said, “because I already know.”

Brian snorted. “Yeah, I don’t think so.” If Dom knew the truth about why Brian had let him go he wouldn’t be standing this close to Brian, wouldn’t be touching him like this.

Dom’s thumb stroked Brian’s throat, his jaw. The touch was almost gentle and Brian had to force himself not to fall into a false sense of security. “Actions have consequences, Bri.”

Brian’s eyes blazed. “You think I don’t know that? Look where I am, Dom!”

Even angry Brian didn’t try to get out of Dom’s hold. Brian was wiry and scrappy, but he had no illusions that he could take on Dom and win – and there was no doubt in his mind that Dom could wipe the floor with him if he wanted to.

“Mmm,” Dom said, looking at Brian through heavy lidded eyes, dragging his gaze over him in a manner that made Brian want to push up into Dom’s hold, want to press against him. Brian forced himself not to move, to not give away his body’s response to having Dom so near to him, having Dom’s hand on him like this.

Dom smiled. It wasn’t a nice smile. More like the cat that had the mouse cornered and knew he could play with it at his leisure before putting an end to the game. Dom lowered his head to Brian’s neck and sniffed. Brian wondered if Dom hoped to smell fear on him, wondered whether he could smell the desire Brian felt for him instead?

Brian bit his lip to hold back the moan, but couldn’t entirely silence the sound in his throat. Dom moved his head until his face hovered over Brian’s, their mouths so close Brian could feel the heat coming off him. Dom’s breath feathered over his skin and Brian had to close his eyes in order to keep from lunging up against the hand around his throat and pressing his lips to Dom’s.

“Not all of the consequences can be anticipated,” Dom said.

Brian’s eyes shot open, but the hold on his throat had eased and Dom was no longer there. It irritated Brian that someone as big as Dom could move so quickly and quietly. “I know that, Dom!” Brian yelled into the night. “I’m living the god damned consequences!”

Brian fell back against the car, breathless from his outburst. “Asshole,” he muttered, but without much heat.

“Hey, you alright?” Rome said from behind Brian.

Brian jumped about ten feet in the air and had to grab his throat to keep his heart from leaping out of it. He turned on Rome. “Jesus, Rome, what the fuck?”

Rome held his hands up and took a step back even though Brian’s car was between them. “Sorry,” he said with a hint of smile. “Didn’t mean to startle you.”

Brian bent over to catch his breath. “I think you scared a dozen years off my life.”

“Sorry, man,” Rome said as he rounded the front of the car and gazed down at Brian. “I thought I should check on you. I gave you a couple of minutes in case you wanted the privacy, but, well . . . .”

“Yeah, thanks,” Brian said as he straightened. “I’m fine.”

“You sure?”

Brian wasn’t, but he figured he’d fake it ‘til he made it.

~*~*~*~

“What’s he doing here?” Brian asked.

“Who?” Tej turned his head to follow Brian’s gaze to where Dom was lounging cool as a cucumber against a car, as if he wasn’t out of his element. “Oh, your friend? He said he wanted to watch you race.”

“He’s not my friend,” Brian mumbled, even though it hurt to say the words, but Tej was no longer paying attention to him, busy instead with the final tasks of organizing that night’s race.

Brian turned away, but he could still feel Dom’s eyes on him. It made him feel, well, it made him hot all over, if he was going to be honest. Reminded him of how he’d had to go home last night and jerk off because he was so hard he couldn’t sleep. The memory of Dom’s hand on his throat, the almost kiss, had sent him over the edge and he’d climaxed so hard he’d seen stars.

“What’s he doing here?” Rome said as he came to stand at Brian’s shoulder.

“I have no idea,” Brian said. Tej’s explanation notwithstanding, Brian didn’t believe that Dom’s presence there was as benign as he’d made it sound.

“Want me to take care of him for you?” Rome asked.

Brian ducked his head to hide a smile. “No. But I appreciate the offer. Really.”

“Yo, O’Connor, line up!”

Brian waved at Tej to let him know he’d heard, gave Rome his fist to bump for good luck, and then turned to get into his car. Even though Dom’s presence made Brian feel like he had ants crawling all over his skin he couldn’t resist glancing over one last time. Dom was looking right at him, ignoring the pretty girls admiring his car, touching the arms he’d crossed over his chest. Brian ignored the heat that pooled in his belly at Dom’s fierce gaze and slid into the driver’s seat.

Brian started the engine and pulled up to the starting line. He’d learned a lot since that first race he’d run against Dom. Part of him wanted to show Dom that he wasn’t the novice he’d been back then, and part of him just hoped he didn’t embarrass himself in front of Dom. Brian flexed his fingers and shifted around in the seat until he was comfortable, and then he waited, thinking only of the route the race took that night, and the tweaks he’d made to the engine since the last race. When the flags went down it was just Brian, his car, and the pavement.

Brian won. He wished he could say that he’d known he was going to win, but he hadn’t. He didn’t always win, and he never made the mistake of telling himself that he’d almost had it. Almost didn’t count. He just tinkered with the engine and practiced on a track Tej let him use, and with each race he got better.

Rome was waiting for him when he stepped out of the car and Brian only had a second to brace himself for the hug that knocked him back into it. Rome slapped his back and gave him an animated play by play of the race, even though Brian had just run it. Everyone wanted to congratulate him, even the driver’s he’d beaten. None of the drivers he’d raced against tonight were sore losers, though there had been a few of those over the past few months. Even losing the ten thousand dollar buy in didn’t faze them, because they knew they could make it up on the next race. If you didn’t have the money to play with, then you shouldn’t race was Brian’s philosophy, even though he’d started out with nothing when he’d left LA and had to put up his pink slip until he’d won enough cash to stake himself.

In the excitement of the race and winning and the congratulations, Brian had forgotten that Dom was there. When Dom’s hand landed on his shoulder, though, Brian knew immediately who it was. He turned, but Dom wasn’t looking at him, just shaking his head as he studied Brian’s ride.

“What is it with you and imports?” Dom said lightly, and only then did he look at Brian. “Nice driving, Bri,” he said, and then he walked away.

The crowd parted before Dom as if he was Moses and they the Red Sea. As soon as he moved through the crowd closed back up and the noise of people talking and laughing registered again.

“What was that?” Rome said.

Brian had no idea.

“I think he’s toying with you, man.”

Brian just looked at Rome, who shrugged half-apologetically, but he didn’t say anything since he’d thought along similar lines the night before.

When he touched himself later Brian tried to tell himself that it was the adrenaline from the race that fueled his body’s need for release, and not the brand Dom’s hand had left on his body.

~*~*~*~

“What are you doing here?” Brian hissed.

Dom didn’t answer until he’d pulled his head out from under the hood of the car he’d been bent over. “Waiting for you,” he said as he grabbed a rag and wiped his hands. “Thought I’d give your friend Tej a hand while I waited.”

Brian glared at Tej, who was pointedly ignoring them, and then turned the glare onto its rightful recipient. “What do you want?”

“I thought we could go for a drive,” Dom said as he tossed the dirty rag into the bin Tej kept for that purpose. He pulled his shirt off a hook and pulled it on over the white tank he wore, but didn’t button it.

“I have to work,” Brian said.

“You’ve got the day off,” Tej said, and then disappeared behind a car before Brian could _kill him with his brain_.

“Why do I have the day off?” Brian said, crossing his arms over his chest belligerently. “Maybe I don’t want the day off.”

“I asked if you could have the day off,” Dom said.

Technically, Brian could have off any day he wanted – he worked for Tej in return for having a place to work on his own car, and for the experience – but Dom didn’t know that. “Why?”

When Dom didn’t answer right away, and all Brian could imagine was Dom finding some swamp in which to dump his body, Brian said, “Look, Dom, what do you want? Do you want to hit me? Then just hit me.” He spread his arms to show that he wouldn’t stop him (as if he could), and waited. Anything to get this over with and put him out of his misery.

Dom moved, but it wasn’t to punch him. Instead he got behind Brian, placed his hands on Brian’s hips, and moved him towards the door. “I just want to go for a drive, Bri.”

Brian shivered. He wished Dom would stop saying his name like that – it sounded too friendly, too . . . intimate. Brian was surprised that he could still walk, since the heat of Dom’s hands, the shape of them on his body, had turned his legs to jelly. He tried to dig his heels in, but Dom was strong as hell and he kept Brian moving forward.

When they reached the car Dom dipped his hand into Brian’s front right pocket and pulled out the keys. Brian’s breath caught in his throat and he was glad he’d dressed to the left that morning since he was already getting hard just from having Dom’s hands on him. Dom thumbed the fob and the doors unlocked with a beep. He tossed the keys to Brian, who caught them reflexively, and then he moved around Brian and lowered himself into the passenger seat.

“Let’s go,” Dom said before he pulled the door shut.

Brian had to take a deep breath before he could make himself walk over to the driver’s side and get into the car beside Dom. As soon as he started the engine Brian put down his window so he could get some fresh air into the car. He was afraid that Dom’s presence would be suffocating in such an enclosed space.

“Where do you want to go?” Brian said.

“Nowhere in particular,” Dom said as he put down his own window. “Show me around Miami.” Dom rested his arm on the door and looked at Brian, just waiting.

“You want to see the sights?”

“Sure,” Dom said.

Brian rolled his eyes. “You’re not being very helpful here.”

“I want to see the places that are important to you.”

That caught Brian off guard. “Why?”

“Because,” Dom said.

Brian rolled his eyes again, but he backed the car out of its space. “So, what, you want to see, like, my favorite restaurant and where I grocery shop?”

Dom smiled. “Yeah.”

Brian shook his head. “You’re weird.”

Dom didn’t answer. When they rolled past the corner grocery store where Brian picked up the essentials, he pointed it out to Dom.

“I shop there. This sweet couple owns it. They’ve got a daughter that’s about six. I don’t like to drive to the big malls for shit like toilet paper and milk.”

What Brian didn’t say was that it sort of reminded him of Toretto’s. To the casual observer it might appear that Dom merely glanced at the store, but Brian knew that he was studying it as if it might tell him something about . . . what, Brian?

“You surf around here?”

“Of course,” Brian said, almost smiling. “Why else would you live near the ocean?”

Dom gave Brian a look, but all he said was, “Show me where.”

Brian drove along the ocean, pointing out some of the best surfing spots, and then he showed Dom his favorite spot, where he went when he wanted to be alone. It was a bitch getting to it, but when he was finally in the water, no one around but the seagulls, it was totally worth it. Brian showed Dom where they finally took down Verone, the practice track where he spent a couple hours most days, and the stretch of road where he’d won his first race.

When his stomach growled, Brian realized that they’d been driving around Miami for several hours. He aimed the car towards his favorite restaurant and a few minutes later pulled into the parking lot. He angled into a spot away from the front door so his baby didn’t get dinged and got out, stretching to relieve muscles cramped from sitting so long.

Dom was giving him a strange look, but Brian pulled the hem of his t-shirt back down over his belly and ignored it. “I hope you’re hungry,” he said, smiling when he remembered the first time he’d eaten here. He’d been stuffed, and there’d still been enough left over to take home. Dom glanced up at the sign that read La Fiesta, but said nothing as he followed Brian into the restaurant.

“Brian!” Connie greeted him before the door had closed behind them.

Brian smiled at the unfeigned pleasure to see him in her voice. “Hey, Connie,” Brian returned the greeting.

“You brought a friend,” Connie said as she plucked two menus from the hidden depths of the small reception podium and approached them.

Brian introduced them. “Connie and her husband Mike own the place,” he added.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Dom said in that gravely voice that sent a shiver down Brian’s spine.

“The pleasure’s all mine,” Connie said, giving Brian a knowing smile. “He’s cute. Where have you been hiding him?”

Heat crept up his neck, but before Brian could answer, Dom spoke.

“I just got into town a couple of days ago,” Dom told her.

“Well I hope you plan on staying a while,” Connie said.

“I’m thinking about it,” Dom said, and Brian couldn’t hide his look of surprise.

“Good,” Connie said. “Now, you didn’t come here to talk to me all day. The patio?”

“Please,” Brian said.

It wasn’t quite noon yet, but several of the tables were already full. Still, his favorite table on the patio – the one with the best view – was still available. La Fiesta wasn’t right on the beach, but close enough that you could see the ocean, and sometimes hear the waves over the sounds of traffic.

“I’ll get you something to drink while you look at the menu. The usual?” Connie asked Brian.

Brian said yes before the implications of it hit him, but by then she had already taken Dom’s order and walked off. Brian stared at the menu even though he already knew what he was going to order, merely so he didn’t have to look at Dom sitting across the table from him.

“What’s good?” Dom asked as he perused the menu.

“Everything,” Brian said, and meant it. He’d tried almost everything on the menu, but kept coming back to a few favorites. He told Dom what those were.

Connie returned moments later with two bottles of Corona and a tray of warmed tortilla chips and her homemade salsa. Brian refused to look at Dom when she sat the bottles on the table. She took their orders – Brian got the fish tacos and Dom the shrimp fajita – and told them to enjoy the chips and salsa while they waited.

Brian busied himself with his beer – shoving the lime down into the bottle and taking a sip – and with the view. Dom did the same, and then scooped up some salsa onto a chip and popped it into his mouth. Brian did not stare as Dom chewed and swallowed.

“This is really good,” Dom said after about the fifth chip.

“Are you sure?” Brian teased. “Maybe you need another one to be sure.”

“Bite me, O’Connor,” Dom said as he dipped another chip, the name easy on his tongue, as if he’d never called Brian anything else. “You better get ‘em before they’re gone.”

Brian ate some chips. Partly to keep his hand and mouth occupied, but also because he couldn’t resist. Connie really did make an amazing salsa.

Connie stopped by their table to drop off another tray of chips and salsa, and to tell them that their meals would be out soon. They’d barely made a dent in the chips before she was back with their plates and a fresh Corona for each of them. They both dug in, and Brian didn’t have to worry about conversation – or the lack thereof – for the next several minutes.

Finally he slowed, then stopped as his belly got full. Brian pushed back his plate, leaned back in his chair, and watched Dom finish off the fajita he’d built. Dom raised an eyebrow at him when he saw Brian watching him, but didn’t speak until he’d finished chewing the mouthful. “What?”

Brian shook his head. “Just glad to see you enjoying the food,” he said. And he was glad. For some reason, seeing Dom enjoy the food brought him pleasure. Brian didn’t want to think about the whys of it too hard. He ignored the look Dom gave him and turned his own gaze back out over the ocean.

Connie came by and took Brian’s plate. “I’ll wrap this for you. Are you still working on that?” she asked Dom.

Dom looked at his plate and Brian could tell that he was considering it. Instead he sighed and pushed the plate back. “Tempting,” he said, “but you’d better wrap it. Brian can stick it in his fridge.”

Connie smiled at Dom as she took his plate, then gave Brian a look he couldn’t decipher. “I’ll be right back with these.”

They sat in silence waiting for Connie to return. Brian could feel Dom’s eyes on him, but he refused to look over. He didn’t want to know what Dom was thinking. Finally Brian couldn’t take it anymore – he really did need to know what Dom was thinking. By the time he looked, Dom’s gaze was turned towards the ocean.

Brian wondered where Dom was living now; whether he was near an ocean. The fact that he was thinking these things pissed him off. He’d been doing so well (mostly), not thinking about Dom – where he was, what he was doing – and then Dom had to go and show up and now all Brian could do was think about him.

“Seriously, Dom,” Brian said. “Why are you here? If you don’t want to hit me, then what?”

“I told you,” Dom said with way more calm than Brian liked. “I just wanted to talk to you.”

“For that you come back to the States?” Brian said. “Are you nuts? What, you want me to apologize, is that it? For lying to you about being a cop? For Vince getting hurt? For Jesse getting shot? For sleeping with Mia when, in hindsight, it wasn’t about Mia at all!”

Dom’s eyes flashed, and Brian reviewed what he’d just said. Crap. Brian hadn’t told Dom about sleeping with Mia, and apparently Mia hadn’t either.

“We’ll talk about that later,” Dom growled.

“Shit,” Brian sighed.

Connie lightly tapped the back of his head as she set the bag of leftovers on the table. “No swearing,” she said. “And keep your voices down unless you want everyone here to know your business.”

“Sorry, Connie,” Brian said. “And thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Now, did you save room for dessert?”

They both groaned, and Connie chuckled. “He never saves room.”

“That’s because the food is too good, and you give me too much!” Brian said.

“I give you just enough,” Connie said. “And I gave you some dessert to go, too.” Before Brian could protest, she added, “It’s new, you can tell me how you liked it.”

“Thank you,” Brian said again.

Dom said something to Connie in Spanish that Brian couldn’t follow. She answered, and Dom spoke again. When they finished, Connie gave Brian a fond look, and said, “It was our pleasure.”

“What?” Brian said, but she just smiled and turned away without answering. “What did you say to her?”

“I thanked her,” Dom said.

Brian frowned. “That was more than just a thank you.”

“Was it?”

Dom took the check from Connie before Brian could reach for it.

“Dom!” Brian hissed.

“I’m getting lunch,” Dom said as he glanced at the total, then handed Connie several bills. “You can buy dinner. Thank you for a wonderful meal,” he told Connie.

“It was my pleasure.”

“Dinner?” Brian said, when he realized what Dom had said.

Connie smiled at Brian, but it was different than her other smiles. She said, “Come back and visit us again soon,” and then left them alone.

Dom pushed his chair back. “Let’s go.”

“Where?” Brian said as he automatically stood.

Dom shrugged. “Anywhere.”

“Anywhere?” Brian repeated.

Dom picked up the bag that held their leftovers and held his hand out for Brian. “Come on.”

Brian moved ahead of Dom and led the way out of the restaurant, his mind whirling in confusion. He couldn’t figure out why Dom was there, and he couldn’t figure out how he felt about Dom being there. And he didn’t know what Dom had said to Connie, or what her smile meant. As they reached the car Brian unlocked the doors. Instead of going around to the passenger side, Dom leaned around Brian after he’d opened the driver side door and set the bag on the backseat. He stepped back and pushed the door closed, then pressed Brian up against it.

“You slept with Mia?” Dom growled.

“Uh, once?” Brian said. “Sorry?”

“Do you love her?” Dom asked.

“What? I . . . no. I mean, I thought I did, but . . . . No.” Brian waited for Dom to hit him. When the blow didn’t come, he said, “Aren’t you going to hit me?”

Dom sighed, exasperated. “Why do you keep expecting me to hit you?”

“You’d have let Vince _shoot_ me if I hadn’t lied my ass off about why I was at Hector’s that night!”

“That was a long time ago . . . .”

“Months!”

“. . . and I wouldn’t have let Vince shoot you. Trust me, you aren’t that good of a liar.”

“Wait, you knew?”

“Did it look like I knew?”

Brian remembered the expression on Dom’s face when Brian had called in for a medical chopper, naming himself as a police officer. He shook his head. “No.”

“I knew something was off, but I didn’t know what. And I didn’t care,” Dom admitted.

“Why?” Brian said.

“Because I liked you, Brian,” Dom said. “Everybody liked you.”

“Except for Vince.”

“Except for Vince,” Dom agreed. “But that was less about you maybe being a cop and more about you being you.”

“Gee, thanks,” Brian said.

“You never testified against him,” Dom said.

“Who, Vince?” Brian shrugged. “I told them I didn’t see anything. My testimony would’ve been worthless anyway, after I lost my badge.”

“The truck driver never came forward to testify, either,” Dom mused.

Brian swallowed hard. “No? Well, maybe he realized that he’d be in just as much trouble as Vince.”

“You didn’t have anything to do with him maybe realizing that, did you?”

“Why would I have done that?” Brian said.

“That’s not actually an answer,” Dom said, but he didn’t push it. “Speaking of answers, are you ever going to answer my question?”

There’d been so many. “Which question?”

“The one I came here to ask,” Dom said. “Why? Why did you let me go, Brian?”

Butterflies fluttered in Brian’s belly. “We already talked about that,” he hedged.

“We talked around it,” Dom allowed. “Why don’t we hit it straight on, this time? Why didn’t you arrest me, Brian, turn me over to the cops that were already on their way?”

Brian turned his face away so he didn’t have to look at Dom. Dom raised his hand, but instead of forcing Brian to look at him, he just placed it on his neck. It reminded Brian of the other night, when Dom had confronted him outside the bar. “I didn’t want you to go back to jail,” Brian said.

Dom nodded, but he didn’t let it go at that. “Why?” he asked softly.

“Jesus, Dom, because I was in love with you, alright?” Brian hadn’t fully realized it at the time, but he’d had a lot of time to think about it since that day.

“Alright,” Dom said.

Brian jerked his head up so he could see Dom’s face. “Alright?” he repeated. “That’s it?”

“What, did you want me to hit you?” Dom teased.

“Well, it’s not what I _wanted_ ,” Brian said.

“But what you expected.”

“Most guys wouldn’t react quite so calmly to, you know, hearing something like that.”

“Mmm.”

Dom still hadn’t moved away from him, and his hand still lay on Brian’s neck. Something niggled at the back of Brian’s brain, and then he remembered Dom saying that he already knew why Brian had let him go. “Wait, you already knew?”

“I suspected,” Dom said. “Hoped.”

“Hoped?”

“Hoped,” Dom confirmed.

“You came all the way to Miami to ask me that? To . . . to hear me say . . . .” It was Brian’s turn to ask, “Why?”

Dom didn’t answer. At least, not in words. He bent his head and claimed Brian’s lips with a fierceness that told Brian (and anyone watching), that he was claiming more than Brian’s mouth with the kiss. Brian’s knees went weak, and if Dom hadn’t stepped into him, pressed their bodies together, he would have slid right down to the ground.

“Dom?”

It was all Brian got out before Dom kissed him again. Brian’s hands, which had somehow landed on Dom’s shoulders, clutching them as if he was afraid Dom was going to pull away, slid up Dom’s neck and over his bare scalp until Brian cradled Dom’s head between his hands. He tilted his head just the slightest bit and invited Dom to deepen the kiss. He moved his hips, because he couldn’t _not_ move them, and Dom growled into his mouth. The sound of it vibrated right through Brian and settled between his legs.

Brian moaned, and Dom jerked their mouths apart. He looked down at Brian with wild eyes. “How far away is your place?”

It took Brian a couple of seconds to get his brain working. “About, uh, twenty minutes or so, why?”

“There’s a motel down the street,” Dom said, his voice sounding even more raspy than usual.

“Fuck, Dom,” Brian groaned. He dropped his head back onto the roof of the car, trying to ignore the way his body had gone hot all over when the meaning of Dom’s words registered.

“Shit,” Dom swore softy and stepped back away from Brian. He shook his hands as if he could shake off the arousal coursing through his body. “I shouldn’t have started this here, but you . . . .” Dom shot an accusing glare at Brian. “And you’re not helping right now. Could you, you know, stop looking so . . . .”

Dom crossed his arms over his chest and turned away from Brian, looking out over the street. Brian could tell, though, that he was having a tough time getting himself back under control. Brian snorted. Hell, so was he. Brian pushed himself off the car, blushing when he realized what they’d been doing in the parking lot of La Fiesta. What they might have done if Dom hadn’t stopped them.

What were they going to do now? Dom couldn’t stay in Miami. “You can’t stay in Miami,” Brian said.

“I know,” Dom said. “How do you feel about the Dominican Republic? I do some racing, work at a garage.”

It took Brian a few seconds to realize that Dom was asking him to go to the Dominican Republic with him. The one thing he’d have changed if he could. “We could have our own garage,” Brian said, thinking of the money he had stashed away.

“I don’t want your money, Brian.”

“It’s not legitimate, if that’s what’s worrying you. We stole it.”

Dom shot him a surprised look over his shoulder.

Brian shrugged. “What can I say, you’re a bad influence on me, Toretto. So.” The butterflies in Brian’s belly set to fluttering again. He turned his back on Dom and opened the car door. “The Dominican Republic, they have an ocean, right?”

Brian could practically hear Dom rolling his eyes. “Yes, Brian, they have an ocean, it’s a freaking island.”

Brian smiled as he slid into the driver’s seat. He glanced out the windshield and, huh, there was a motel, right up the road about a hundred yards. He’d never paid any attention. Brian started the engine and waited for Dom to walk around to the passenger side, not even trying to hide the fact that he was staring at him, enjoying the view.

“What kind of view do you think that motel has?” Brian asked casually when Dom was in the car.

“A lovely one, I’m sure,” Dom said sarcastically. “Are you going to answer my question?”

“I’ll answer your question after the motel,” Brian said.

Dom’s eyes narrowed in confusion. “After the motel?”

“Please,” Brian scoffed. “You don’t think I’m buying you without taking you for a test drive first, do you?”

Dom’s eyes narrowed even further. “A test drive?” he growled.

Brian smiled and revved the engine.

The End


End file.
